Source of Lenormand 9x4 spread?

Etrennes nouvelles de l'horoscope de l'homme et de la femme" By M. G. D. R., published by G. Quinet, Libraire, dans la Salle du Palaise, uses an expanded piquet set of 36 cards, and a 9x4 spread.

It is available online here:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id...KAhXKXRQKHXvaAbIQuwUIJTAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

The names of the positions in the 1788 9x4 spread:

1 projet; 2 satisfaction; 3 reussite; 4 esperance; 5 hazard; 6 desir; 7 injustice; 8 ingratitude; 9 association; 10 perte; 11 peine; 12 etat; 13 joie; 14 amour; 15 prosperite; 16 mariage; 17 affliction; 18 jouissance; 19 heritage; 20 trahison; 21 rival; 22 present; 23 amant; 24 elevation; 25 bienfait merite; 26 enterprise; 27 changement; 28 death; 29 recompense; 30 disgrace; 31 bonheur; 32 fortune; 33 indifference; 34 faveur; 35 ambition; 36 maladie.

L'Oracle Parfait after Mlle Lenormand:

1, projet; 2, satisfaction; 3, réussite; 4, espérance; 5, hasard; 6, désir; 7, injustice; 8, ingratitude; 9, association; 10, perte; 11, peine; 12, état; 13, joie; 14, amour; 15, prospérité; 16, mariage; 17, affliction; 18, jouissance; 19, héritage; 20, trahison; 21, rival; 22, présent; 23, amant; 24, élévation; 25, bienfait; 26, entreprise; 27, changement; 28, fin; 29, récompense; 30, disgrâce; 31, bonheur; 32, fortune; 33, indifférence; 34, faveur; 35, ambition, 36, indisposition.

very interesting. I would have to think on this post a bit. Thanks for such information. I definitely have to look at the link more.

From 1788 re: reading the kings:



From L'Oracle Parfait, 1875, after 'the method of Lenormand':

1, Roi de coeur; 2, roi de carreau; 3, roi de trèfle. La personne, d'un état malheureux, passera à un qui sera très heureux; elle possédera des biens, des honneurs, des richesses immenses.

The King of Hearts signifies in the 1875 for example:

Le roi de cœur signifie homme marié ou veuf; il représente aussi un ami de tout cœur dont le dévouement et la bienfaisance sont acquis à la personne dont on tire l'horoscope. Si l'on tire les cartes pour une jeune fille~ femme mariée ou veuve et qu'il se trouve placé aux nombres 14, 22, 23, 24, 32, il signifie amant; si c'est au contraire pour un homme célibataire, marié ou veuf et qu'il se trouve aux Membres 14, 22, 23, 24, 32, il signifie rival.

And in the 1788:

Signifie homme marié ou veuf; il repréfente aussï un ami de tout cœur qui aime & fait du bien à la Personne pour qui l’on tire l’Horoscope, par tout où il se trouve placé, de plus il signifie & représente amant, si on tire pour fille, femme ou veuve, quand il est placé aux nombres 14 22 23 24 32 si on tire pour garçon, homme marié ou veuf, & qu’il se trouve aux nombres 14 22 23 24 32 il signifie rival de fentimens.

It is customary nowadays of course to name the houses of the spread after the Petit Lenormand card number (house 1 is named after card 1, the rider; house 2 after card 2, Clover). However, despite this the meanings of the houses are different to the meanings of the cards they are named after, sometimes very different. In her blog on the Lenormand, Camelia Elias, for example, gives meaning for the houses which for the most part are clearly related to those of the 1875 L'Oracle Parfait & thus to the 1788 Etrennes nouvelles de l'horoscope de l'homme et de la femme".

A few examples:

House 1 the rider: The present, what is in the querent’s mind, his projects.

1788/1875 = project

House 5 the tree: Speculations, risks, especially financial. It shows if a person is lucky or unlucky.

1788/1875 = chance

7. Snake: Mistakes, injustice, and unfairness.

1788/1875 = injustice

14. fox: Love

1788/1875 = love

etc., etc.,

It’s interesting to see, that despite the houses being subsequently named after the Petite Lenormand cards, they have still largely retained their 1788 meanings. One might expect, that through a simplification process, the houses would have taken on more of the meanings of the cards they became named after, but the differences in meaning between house and card seems to have been maintained.

kwaw said:

It is customary nowadays of course to name the houses of the spread after the Petit Lenormand card number (house 1 is named after card 1, the rider; house 2 after card 2, Clover). However, despite this the meanings of the houses are different to the meanings of the cards they are named after, sometimes very different. In her blog on the Lenormand, Camelia Elias, for example, gives meaning for the houses which for the most part are clearly related to those of the 1875 L'Oracle Parfait & thus to the 1788 Etrennes nouvelles de l'horoscope de l'homme et de la femme".

Click to expand...

Fabulous information, kwaw. Thank you so, so much for finding and reporting on this earlier source for the house system. You've done it again!

This technique of reading cards in the 36 houses has its own following among readers of playing cards. The technique appears in books by Papus (Le Tarot Divinatoire), Prof. Foli (1904) and Charles Platt, among others. It's often called "Madame Lenormand's Nines," and is very complex in that each suit and even individual card that falls in a House has a set meaning that must be looked up in the source book.

While Camelia Elias uses a modified version of "Madame Lenormand's Nines" when she reads the Lenormand deck, as she learned it from teachers in Eastern Europe, most modern Lenormand readers use House meanings that are derived from the Petit Lenormand card that falls naturally in that house (by number). House meanings are thus much easier to remember and lead to linking (or chaining) cards in a sequence that may be significant in itself.

Nevertheless, this 1788 list of subjects is reminiscent of, but not exact with, the card subjects in any number of cartomancy decks that appeared in the 19th century and may have been an inspiration to some of them.

Personally I prefer the modern trend of reading Houses according to a keyword for the natural Lenormand card that falls there. But then rote memorization is very difficult for me.

It is interesting that both Lenormand and this 9x4 House-system end with a very bad card (1788:Maladie; 1875:Indisposition; 1846:Cross/Suffering), while the next to last card is quite good (1788/1875:Ambition; 1846:Commercial Advantage),

Another book of interest, as a precursor to the Lenormand using 36 cards, is the Oracle Parfait, 1802. This too uses a 9x4 grid, however in this instance it is not the house position that is of importance, but the cards that are above, below and to the sides of the significator.

As precursors the 36 single figure deck, probably by Jacques Grasset Saint-Sauveur, 1797, may also be of interest.

A deck very similar to this, but with piquet set inserts + 4 Etteilla inserts, was sold c.1820-1824 by Robert and later Mlle. Finet. The advert for the Finet actually includes a reference to Mlle. Lenormand, saying how with these cards one can read for yourself without recourse to the 'sybile Faubourg de Saint-Germain'.

see post here for the advert:

http://www.tarotforum.net/showpost.php?p=4593865&postcount=391

"Without resorting to the Sibyl of the Faubourg Saint-Germain, or the famous Moreau, everyone can know a time that they please..., and what should happen to him."

Mlle. Lenormand, although she never mentions Etteilla by name, surely knew his system and possibly used a version of his picquet system. Although she never mentions him, in her 1805 book she mentions how she became expert in 'cartonomancy', i.e., she uses Etteilla's term.

Another question is, can these single figure 36 card Etteilla variants (the 1797 and the Finet/Robert) be considered a precursor of the later 36 card Lenormand deck, with its extended piquet set inserts? If so, does that make the Lenormand an Etteilla variant?

kwaw said:

Mlle. Lenormand, although she never mentions Etteilla by name, surely knew his system and possibly used a version of his picquet system. Although she never mentions him, in her 1805 book she mentions how she became expert in 'cartonomancy', i.e., she uses Etteilla's term.

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She didn't use only piquet cards but also egyptian cards (implicitly Etteilla's cards) as she mentions it in her book Les souvenirs prophétiques d'une sibylle sur les causes secrètes de son arrestation, le 11 décembre 1809 (p137; published in 1814) :

MAL1814 by PhilBeDaN, sur Flickr

With which deck existing at that time can you draw these cards ? To solve the enigma I once opened a thread http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=226003 but didn't get many answers.

From descriptions she seems to have used a variety of types, with a variety of prices (cartes ordinaires, petit jeu, grand jeu, tharot, marc de cafe...).

Not all anecdotes are safe, some later descriptions describe her as using cards that were not available at her time. However, one that is possible is the Petit Oracle des Dames:

:que la demoiselle Le Normand, maniant les cartes du jeu de tharot, montra le singe no. xii au déposant, en lui disant: <<Voilà votre petit homme brun, voilà votre voleur.>>



: then Miss Le Normand, wielding the cards of the game of Tarot, showed the applicant No. XII the monkey, saying: "Behold your little brown man, that's your thief."

Souvenirs de la Belgique, cent jours d'infortunes: ou le procès mémorable; avec des notes historiques et politiques, etc by Marie-Anne Adélaïde Lenormand, 1822.

But in your example there is only one card. In the book cited above she mentions 4 cards. Not so easy to gather them together in one deck
In a simple tarot de Marseille we could have le soleil XIX, l'étoile XVII, le sphinx X perhaps, but what about la corne d'abondance ?

No, that would be a different deck (she apparently used several types) -- the Petit Oracle des Dames is the only one I can think of (off the top of my head), with a monkey on card 12... and the period is OK. (It has the horn of abundance, the sun and star, but not the sphinx.)

I am not sure I am understanding the French correctly. How do four cards form a triangle?

Does la corne d’abondance fait le pendant de l’etoile du bonheur mean that the cornucopia is below (a pendant too) the Star? or that it is a counterpart of the Star of Happiness?